Thursday, June 20, 2013

What It Means To Be "On The Clock"

I've been silent for a couple months, but not still.

So much has happened since the Family History Writing Challenge this past February! I had continued to work on my family history memoir for most of April and into the first part of May. Then, suddenly, I hit an emotional road block....

During that time I read Joyce Carol Oates', We Were the Mulvaneys. At the start of the book, I had just subscribed to Suzanne Windsor Freeman's blog, write it sideways: Writing advice from a fresh perspective, and received her free Resource Wrap-Up, Read Better, Write Better Novel
Study Workbook for Aspiring Novelists.
I printed out the template: but since most of my reading time is during lunch breaks at work, I found it difficult to follow through with the workbook pages.

I did, however, keep in mind some of the elements Suzanne encourages writers/readers to think about as they read.

The book details the affects of a traumatic event in the life of Marianne Mulvaney upon herself and her parents and siblings. While reading, the one element that became more apparent was the author's narrative voice, which could be described as an alternating point of view, vacillating between the first-person character voice of Judd, and third person omniscient.

In that way, Oates was able to tell the story from the brother/son's perspective and still be able to fill in the gaps with scenes of how the event affected the others. This was the first time I have ever read a book whereby the author did not use the same narrative voice throughout; and, in this case it proved most effective.

I don't want to be a professional genealogist. After my experience with owning a sole proprietorship, I don't want to go through that again...

But then I began to think of it as the first piece of my 5-year plan. When I had tried to apply for graduate school in the past, I could not get the required two or three professors or colleagues who were familiar with my work to write letters of recommendation for my application package.

Since I graduated with the class of 1983, most of my professors who remembered me from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst were deceased...the sole surviving writing professor who acknowledged my work I dared not ask since I am yet unpublished.

And of the professors at Houghton College, none <sadly> remembered me....a small school, yet lost as a fish in the vast sea of academia. Even sadder yet was the fact that those who had remembered me from UMASS/Amherst had only had me as a student in one (1) class. Imagine that!

So, the question of certification changed from that of working as a professional genealogist to one of making current connections through submitting a professional portfolio to those who might one day write a letter of recommendation to a graduate school offering a dual Masters degree in Library and Information Science (MLIS) and Public Records and Archives Management.

The Five-Year Plan
With a new hopeful perspective, I devised this rigorous, yet realistic plan toward reaching my goal:

BCG Certification,

study for and take the Graduate Records Exam (GRE),

apply for and complete a dual Masters degree in the areas listed above, and finally,

change careers from Deli Manager to the start of a whole new career in research/writing/records management.

On the Clock...
On June 12th my Facebook status read:

I'm so excited! Just received my Category Application packet from Board for Certification of Genealogists (BCG) in the mail today! Took a look at the document they supplied and am even MORE psyched!

...to which my husband replied...

(PLEASE NOTE:

most effective if you view the clip while reading the the comment below)

"The
5-year plan... to explore strange new (genealogical) worlds, to seek out new
life (information) and new (formerly unknown) civilizations (cultures)... to
boldly go (inquire and discover) where no man (or woman genealogist) has gone
before... FAMILY TREK!!! I'm sorry folks... I couldn't resist (must have been
those BORG ancestors).

By May 30, 2014 I expect to have submitted my BCG portfolio and then or shortly thereafter to have received professional certification....the completion of step one in the five-year plan.

What you can expect to see on the blog...
With a new focus and determination, you can expect to see some new things as I share the process of assembling a professional genealogical portfolio...although I will not be able to share any specifics of my BCG presentation.

You can also expect to see a continuation of the series: The Civil War Pension File of Isaac Carter, as well as side-notes for the continuation of The Family History Memoir on Adventures of Family History Writing, and more commentaries on sources at The Bizzy Bee's Family History Journal.So, I invite you to follow me as I share with you the progress of a whole new season in the life of this family historian.

Welcome!

I invite you to join me on my search for the many and varied stories intertwined within the roots of the Newton-Carter Family Tree...from African slaves in pre-Colonial Virginia to land-holding Free Persons of Color in Eastern North Carolina...from Mayflower refugees seeking religious freedom to Orthodox Jews fleeing the pogroms of Czar Nicholas II...from English indentured servants to Welsh coal miners seeking opportunity...to a young Filipino seeking a better life in America. Our roots are far-reaching and run deep. Please contact me with comments or questions. I am always glad to connect with cousins and fellow researchers. Thanks for dropping by...hope you'll stop back again very soon!